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French cheese loses out to American and British products at 'cheese Oscars'

The Local France
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French cheese loses out to American and British products at 'cheese Oscars'
France could only manage joint 8th position at the world cheese awards. Photo: AFP

French produce has lost out at the World Cheese Awards - to a cheese from America and a British Cheddar.

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The World Cheese Awards - described as the Oscars of the cheese world - have been held in Bergamo, Italy, and the results will make painful reading for French cheesemakers.

France was not present on the winners podium with the world's best cheese award being given to an American product - Rogue River Blue from Oregon.

But not only that, in a result described as "sacrilege" by one French newspaper, just one of the top 16 cheeses was French.

France had to be content with a lowly joint 8th position for Epoisses - a soft cow's milk cheese with a crust and a runny centre from the Burgundy region.

In fourth place was a British cheese - Pitchfork Cheddar.

READ ALSO French chef sues Michelin over claims he used Cheddar in soufflé


Roquefort cheese being aged in caves in south west France Photo: AFP

The mighty names of the French cheese scene - Roquefort, Camembert, Brie, Comté - were nowhere to be seen among the best rated cheeses, which were selected from among 3,472 cheeses from 41 countries.

According to the judges, the best cheeses in the world are; 

1. Organic Blue Cheese Rogue River Blue (USA)

2. Nazionale del Parmigiano Reggiano Latteria Sociale Santo Stefano (Italy)

3. Torta del Casar DOP Virgen del Prado (Spain)

4. Pitchfork Cheddar (UK)

5. Gruyère AOP Premier Cru (Switzerland)

6. Quintano (Italy)

7. Gallus (Switzerland)

8. Gruyère AOP (Switzerland)

8. Epoisses AOP (France)

10. Mori No Cheese (Japan)

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Anonymous 2019/10/29 18:04
This I do not understand. Having eaten several of these cheeses I disagree with many of the choices. There is nothing to compare Comte to. Nothing. I also love the Tomme cheeses, of which there are many varieties. Cheddar is a brut of a cheese. There is nothing appealing about it at all. Even the best Stilton is a poor cousin to any Roquefort or many of the other french "blue" type cheeses. These people were definately biased against the french.
Anonymous 2019/10/26 10:07
What a tragedy! But I am sure that my local French cheeses will taste just as good next week as they did this week.<br />Jim Lockard, Lyon

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